Chapter 27: Rise of Monarchies

·        Rise of trade and town led to change of governments into monarchies (countries governed by one ruler).

·        This change affected religion and people in several countries.

Section 1: France (FR)

·        Hugh Capet became king of FR in 987.

·        He was first in Capetian dynasty.

·        FR was mostly small feudal territories that were gradually united through conquest against English and strategic marriages.

·        Philip IV (Philip the Fair) set up assembly called Estates-General that was start of national government.

·        By Philip’s death FR was united under one ruler.

Section 2: England (EN)

·        Edward the Confessor (EC) named king by council of nobles.

·        Kingship weakened and nobles became stronger.

·        E.C. died w/o heir and Harold Godwinson (HG) became new king.

William the Conqueror

·        William (WC) was Duke of Normandy (in N. FR), claimed EC promised WC would become king.

·        Invaded and defeated HG

·        WC introduced feudalism to England and put in place lords who supported him.

·        WC introduced many new ideas but also used some Anglo-Saxon

Henry II

·        After WC died there was confusion until Henry II (H2) took over.

·        H2 owned a lot of land in FR and EN

·        Set up trial and jury system instead of trial by ordeal.

·        H2 had disputes with church over where they should be tried in court.

·        H2 eventually made peace with church after murdering official

Magna Carta (MC) and Parliament (PT)

·        H2 died and Richard the Lionheart (RL) became king.

·        RL spent most of time fighting foreign wars and nobles became more powerful.

·        When RL died John took over and John lost most of French lands

·        Nobles forced John to sign MC.

Section 3: The Hundred Years’ War

·        EN still held part of SW FR in early 1300s and the kings of FR wanted them out.

·        Edward III of EN claimed he was the rightful king of FR.

·        The FR and EN then went to war on and off for over 100 years.

·        At one point the of the Hundred Years War, the EN defeated the FR due mainly to new weapons including the longbow and the cannon.

Joan of Arc (JOA)

·        By 1429 a lot of FR was EN’s until the dauphin (eldest son of the FR king) named Charles agreed to let JOA lead his troops.

·        JOA was a peasant who said that God had told her to help the FR.

·        JOA and her army was able to defeat EN at Orleans.

·        Charles then became king.

·        JOA was betrayed by a traitor, given to EN, imprisoned, and burned as a witch but she also became a hero to the FR.

·        At the end of this war EN only had a port city, Calais, on FR territory.

The Results of the War

·        FR was unified under the rule of the king & EN was unified but the king was weak.

·        Many who had fought and died in the war were peasants and since there were fewer peasants they were able to weaken feudalism with demands for more freedom.

Section 4: Germany (GE)

·        Since ~900 the nobles had gotten stronger and the king weaker.

·        But the king could still remove nobles who did not obey him.

Otto I

·        United much of GE & N Italy and weakened the power of the Church by appointing his supporters to positions of power in the Church.

·        Marched on Rome and freed the pope from the Roman nobles and was rewarded by being crowned Holy Roman Emperor (HRE).

·        For next ~90 years was able to determine who could be pope.

Frederick I (F1)

·        F1 forced nobles to obey him and paid them well.

·        But the nobles became powerful, allied themselves with the Italian city-states, and the pope and defeated F1 armies.

·        F1 had to recognize Italy’s and the pope’s independence.

·        Drowned while on the Crusade of Kings

Frederick II (F2)

·        F2 stayed in Sicily where he had grown up and was well educated.

·        The pope excommunicated F2 when he started attacking Italy.

·        So the princes in the different areas of GE broke away from F2’s control.

·        GE was only weakly united with many princes wanting control.

The Hapsburgs (HA)

·        When a HRE died the princes met in a diet (assembly) and decided who would be the next HRE.

·        In 1273 the diet elected a member of the HA family to be HRH and that family served as the HRE for the ~next 650 years.

·        HA married well and were able to build alliances with other families.

·        This included taking over Flanders and the area around it.

Section 5: Spain (SP)

·        Moors who were Muslims ruled most of SP but were eventually kicked out by the SP Christians who united against them.

·        The two major areas of SP, Castille and Aragon were then united by the major of Isabella and Ferdinand.

·        Ferdinand and Isabella (F&I) were very Catholic and tried to make their whole country Catholic by persecuting Jews and Muslims.

·        Many non-Catholics were killed for being heretics.

·        F&I started the Spanish Inquisition which forced Jews to convert or leave the country.

·        The Inquisition then forced many Moors to convert or leave.

·        Most of the Jews and Moors had been artisans, merchants, bankers, doctors, and educators and when they left SP was weaker but was more Catholic.